MA in Early Modern English Literature: Books that Matter

Taught in collaboration with the British Library, explore early modern literary texts through critical lenses such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, religion and nationality, and acquire bespoke tools to study neglected texts and to decide why they matter, what key questions they can answer about the early modern period and our own time, and how they should be edited and re-presented to modern readers.

You'll discover alternative readings of canonical texts and take the unique opportunity to learn not only how to re-read them from new theoretical perspectives, but also how to explore the archives of the British Library, which houses the largest collections of early modern texts in the world.

You'll discover critical and historical approaches alongside early modern manuscript and early print studies, as well as in editing and textual studies - stemming from the strong tradition of Shakespeare and early modern literary studies at King's and the world-leading expertise in the bibliographical make-up of early printed books and manuscripts at the British Library.

Key benefits

• Our Early Modern English Literature MA is an innovative and exciting partnership between the Department of English at King’s and the British Library.
• Discover a wider variety of texts and authors that tell unexpected, richer, and more diverse stories about this key period in the history of English literature and the rise of world literature in English.
• You will learn to read early modern handwriting, transcribe neglected literary manuscripts and rare printed texts, and edit them for the modern reader.
• Unique access to unparalleled collections at the British Library and to the expertise of world-class curators, who will teach a core module and supervise some dissertations.
• A strong tradition of Shakespeare, textual editing and early modern literary studies at King’s. Close links with the London Shakespeare Seminar, the London Renaissance Seminar and the Institute of English Studies.
• Located in the heart of literary London.

Course essentials

Department of English at King’s and the British Library. The course focuses on the transmission of key early modern literary texts, investigating both the circulation of literary texts in manuscript and print and the way they were received. You will learn to read early modern handwriting, transcribe neglected literary manuscripts and rare printed texts, and edit them for the modern reader. In focusing on transmission alongside more traditional literary approaches, the course explores the impact of the materiality of the text and of the material conditions of its (re)production on the way it is interpreted. The Life of the Book: Constructing Knowledge at the British Library module, which is taught at the British Library, will allow access to the early modern manuscript and archival material with a focus on the factors and people involved in their production, transmission and preservation in libraries and private collections.

Duration: One year full-time, two years part-time, September to September